Don’t Mess with Texas Based Investing
Posted in General Investing on October 30th, 2008Our top picks this week come from portfolio manager Doug Cannon of Texas First Investment Managment Company. Texas First specializes in Texas-based companies across a wide variety of industries. Here are some of their current picks, despite the current market climate:
- Southwest Airlines (LUV)- “It traditionally has been the most efficient, most profitable airline in the country and we bought that earlier this year seeing a turnaround in the airline stocks and believing that there was a likelihood that the price of oil would go down and that profitability will improve. We bought Southwest Airlines earlier this year at about $12.25; it’s now at$15.60 so we’re up about 27% there.”

- SYSCO (SYY)- “[They are] the world’s top wholesaler of foods. It’s not an exciting business, but it’s something they do better than anyone else. Sysco is really a growth company that’s been selling at a value price. It’s not something that’s going to move overnight, but the company is going to continue to be profitable, regardless of the economic environment, and over time the stock should make some good gains.”

- Tenet Healthcare Corporation (THC)- “Tenet, based in Dallas, operates hospitals, and they have a good reputation for turning hospital operations around. We bought that at just a little over $5 about a year ago and it’s up about 24% this year. We think it is a very good long-term holding. Tenet’s a good case of a company that had troubles in the past, but where the stock price just got too low. It had operational problems about two years ago, and because the stock was so cheap, we watched the company carefully.Once we saw things start to turn around, we thought it was a good time to buy. We still think that it’s got some very good potential.”
For the complete interview with Mr. Cannon, click here.
For our complete Investing Strategies report, including interview with a variety of portfolio managers giving their investment philosophy and stock picks, click here.

he helm of the firm to become the new CEO of private communications firm Avaya, Inc. in January 2009. Kennedy’s announced resignation comes as JDS continues to face slowing profits and a prediction by the firm that its sales for the second quarter that end in December are expected to be well below analysts forecasts. Kennedy leaves the firm according to a story in
m his position as CEO and board member effective immediately. Davis had been with the firm for seventeen years. Back in February of this year the company made public a rogue trading scandal within the company. According to a story by Stephanie Baum of Dow Jones’ 
rd Dan as his replacement. Dan joined the firm back in June. Prior to his appointment, Dan had led the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Last year the CBOT was acquired by the CME Group Inc. Dan was the CBOT’s president and CEO for close to five years prior to the acquisition. Dan has come in to stabilize the firm. We will just have to wait and see how the changes play out and exactly what Dan can do to turn the firm around. It will be a tough road. For more: 
ng the company’s overall performance under his tutelage has not faired all that well. For a long time, I thought he would ultimately find a path to success for the firm. Recent events, however, have forced me to include Schwartz on my CEO Watch list. First there was the company’s latest performance results. According to Therese Poletti of 